My three year old daughter and I came to the United States to be with my ex-husband after he fled the war in Nicaragua.

Getting here was very difficult. My daughter and I had to cross six borders to get to the United States from Nicaragua. One morning in Guatemala, I went to the market to get something to eat. I turned around to pay and when I looked back again, my daughter was gone.

I went crazy, running around the market yelling “WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?” and looking for her. A nearby woman, who had seen us before, had seen a man snatch my daughter and she took off running after him. She ran into a radio broadcaster in the market, and asked him to announce news of my kidnapped child. Within moments, the entire market was looking for the man and my daughter. Eventually, the police caught him five blocks from where we had been standing earlier. He escaped, but my daughter and I were together once again.

When we reunited with my husband in the United States, I found that he had changed. He started to beat me and abuse me. I think he was still traumatized by the violence and everything that happened during the war. I got tired of the abuse, decided to take control of my life and I left with my daughter.

Around that time, my son was born. I struggled to take care of my family working through a temp agency -- the only job I could get before becoming a U.S. citizen. These agencies and the companies who contract them do not care about or take responsibility for their workers. They pay a miserable wage and abuse workers’ desperation. They don’t care at all if workers get hurt or aren’t doing their job adequately. In the workplace, temp workers are kept separated from regular employees. They don’t have the same rights, have lower wages, and can’t join unions.

I took on two jobs to support my family. I worked one job in the daytime and another at night to try to make a good life for my children. But it was difficult. My kids would ask me: "Mom, when is your day off so you can spend time with us?" It hurt me to leave them with the babysitter for three whole days, but I knew I needed to provide for them.

I asked God to give me a good job, and soon after, I started working as a cook in the Hyatt and joined the union. I thanked God because I no longer had to have two jobs or work through the agency, and I could finally provide for my family and spend time with my kids.

But in recent years, we’ve seen things get worse in the Hyatt. In Boston, the Hyatt fired the entire housekeeping staff and replaced the women with minimum-wage, non-union temp workers. Some of the women had to train their replacements. I know what it’s like to work those jobs, and it is unsafe and you get no respect.

Less than 200 miles away at the Hyatt Hotels in Indianapolis, workers earn less than we do in Chicago, have more work and they have no voice on the job. And when Indianapolis Hyatt workers filed a lawsuit for not getting paid for all the hours they worked, Hyatt responded by firing the subcontractor, putting in jeopardy the jobs of people who bravely stepped forward in the lawsuit. If they can do it in Boston and Indianapolis, what’s going to stop them from doing it everywhere?

I don’t want to go back to having two jobs to take care of my family. We have to change this company we work for before things get any worse. That's why I'm in this fight. From boycotts to civil disobediences to strikes, we’re standing up for decent wages and safe working conditions. We must show the Hyatt that in all the hotels across the country, workers must be treated with respect.

And help me get my job back by signing this letter to the General Manager of my hotel. Thank you.

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